Polyunsaturated fats—Toxic NOT Essential!
How to Heal Your Metabolism By Kate Deering Chapter 3 Polyunsaturated fats—Toxic NOT Essential! Now that you know that saturated fats are not the enemy and can be very healthy for you, its important to understand the fats that are actually harmful to you. And when I mean harmful, I mean contributing to slowing your thyroid, decreasing cellular energy, increasing oxidative damage and encouraging you to gain weight. What are these harmful fats? ---The polyunsaturated fatty acids, also known as “PUFA’s.” These are the same fats promoted by the nutrition and medical industry, as the “heart healthy” fats. “What? Are you telling me polyunsaturated fats, the very fats my doctor and Registered Dietician have been telling me to eat are actually harmful to me?” YES! That is exactly what I am telling you. The very fats you have been encouraged to eat for the last 50 years are the very fats that are slowing your metabolism, increasing aging, supporting illness and disease and helping you to gain weight! Americans, and most people around the world, are consuming PUFAs everyday—in dangerously large amounts! And most of you may be consuming them thinking you are doing something helpful for yourself when in fact you are doing anything BUT that. Are you consuming chia seeds, nuts, seeds, flax oil, fish oil, etc.? If so, then you may want to keep reading and find out why these very toxic fats are doing you far more harm than good. First, what are polyunsaturated fats and where are they found? Polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) are fatty acids with many double Carbon bonds (double bonds link four electrons vs. the usual two). PUFA’s contain double bonds because they lack several hydrogen atoms. This is why they are referred to as “unsaturated”. Remember from the last chapter that saturated fatty acids have only single bonds and are fully “saturated” with hydrogen atoms. Double bonds, although stronger, are more reactive to oxygen than single bonds, making them unstable and susceptible to oxidative stress.